St. Anthony’s College in Katugastota will be celebrating 50 years of badminton this year. It was 1974 when the principal of the school, the late Rev. Fr. Aiden de Silva appointed RNA de Silva as the coach and master in charge of badminton at the school.
As there was no indoor court in the school and on realization of the need to train indoor s, De Silva booked the court at the YMCA in Kotugodella Vidiya, Kandy. It was then that they conducted training sessions in the afternoons on weekdays.
As travelling to that venue was difficult for the boys, De Silva had observed the presence of a flat area close to the main hall at the College that was adequate for badminton purposes. When permission was sort from the Principal to use this hall for badminton training, to the amazement and elation of De Silva the Principal granted permission to use the hall when it is not booked for public performances or school functions. This hall was used for about 15 days a month that enabled the players to grow in the game.
De Silva appointed Vasantha Wijesekera as the captain of the College team as he was already an accomplished player having been a team member of St. Thomas’ Prep School, Bandarawela.
Gradually they formed teams of various age groups and competed in tournaments conducted by the YMCA and the Central Province Badminton Association.
It did not take too long for their players to dominate and win championship titles and their next target was to compete at All Island competitions. Thereafter, with the help of the late Ariyadasa Silva, who was the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Association they were able to make tours to the Southern part for tournaments. This annual tour of five days consisted of matches played in Colombo, Ambalangoda, Galle and Matara. This gave their players the opportunity to play against leading schools in the game such as Dharmasoka, Richmond, Rahula and S. Thomas’ providing an impetus in raising their standards to new heights. Many coaching camps were also conducted inviting reputed coaches such as L.R. Ariyananda, Nandasiri Silva, the late K. Kanagarajah and the late Malik Jahn.
“By 1980, our players were winning championship titles in tournaments conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Association and earned the approbation as a leading school in badminton in Sri Lanka. In 1982, they were able to even win the overall championship title at the Junior National Championship.
The highest achieving Antonian player was undoubtedly Udaya Weerakoon. His skillfulness and competence were shown even at a young age when he won the All-Island Novices Championship title as a 14-year-old in 1979,” said RNA de Silva.
Weerakoon went on to win the national Championship title and the World Airline Singles Championship as a pilot attached to Air Lanka. He represented Sri Lanka in all major tournaments during the period 1984 to 1992.
RNA de Silva had to leave St. Anthony’s College by the end of 1981. In 1993 he requested the school authorities to organize a two week coaching camp during a vacation and had invited Chinthaka Fernando who oversaw the camp.
The principal of the school was so impressed that he acquired the services of Fernando as their full time coach. He built the team so well that they won four out of five age groups at the Junior Nationals and winning the championship titles in three of the four age groups at the All-Island Inter-Schools Team Championships.
